Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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acceptance in 2015), while other OIC countries’ rates fall below the average (e.g. just 5 percent
acceptance for Malians).268
Those who are granted refugee status benefit from a number of different rights and services.
Most Western countries offer refugees temporary residence permits for a set number of years,
after which they are eligible for permanent residence if their protection needs still stand.269
Permanent residency often also offers a path to citizenship for refugees. Through permanent
residence status, refugees obtain access to social services such as health care and education.
Refugees also receive the right to work, although those waiting for decisions on asylum claims
must often wait to receive status before accessing this right.270 Finally, some countries grant
refugee-specific benefits, such as cash assistance or language and cultural training.
2.8.2. Major migration pathways from OIC member countries towards third
countries of asylum
To reach the safety and livelihood opportunities offered by developed countries, some
refugees and asylum seekers from OIC member countries have been willing to undertake
dangerous journeys by land and sea. As many of these Western countries seek to manage
migration through increased border controls and restrictive visa policies, forced (and
nonforced) migrants have undertaken clandestine and increasingly arduous journeys to reach
their desired destination.
The migration paths across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe have attracted particular
attention in the media of late, due to both the scale of flows and the soaring death toll. In 2015,
more than 1 million people entered the European Union irregularly by sea—about 90 percent
of whom were from OIC countries, according to UNHCR data.271 Migrant routes starting from
the Middle East, Asia, and Africa have seen people arrive either on land or via sea at Europe’s
borders. There are three key maritime routes to Europe: the Eastern Mediterranean route
from western Turkey to Greece; the Central Mediterranean route from the North African coast
to Italy or Malta; and the Western Mediterranean route from Morocco into the Spanish
enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta or across the Strait of Gibraltar. In 2015, UNHCR recorded 3,771
migrant fatalities in the Mediterranean Sea.272
Despite the overwhelming media attention given to the refugee and migration crisis in Europe,
it is not the only destination of secondary forced and nonforced migration from OIC countries.
Many migrants from Central Asia join the Rohingya and other Southeast Asian forced migrants
in attempts to reach Australia by flying to Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta and moving south through
268 Acceptance here is defined as all positive decisions, including 1951 Convention status, humanitarian status, and
subsidiary protection.
269 Australia is one exception to this rule, as it grants refugees and humanitarian entrants permanent residence upon arrival.
Kathleen Newland, Refugee Resettlement in an Age of Large-Scale and Protracted Displacement, (Washington, DC: Migration
Policy Institute, forthcoming 2016), 14
270 In Sweden asylum seekers are granted the right to work upon registration, and in Canada asylum seekers may apply for a
work permit immediately. Those in France, Germany and the UK must wait a predetermined period of time to apply for a
permit (one year in France and the UK, 3 months in Germany).
271 UNHCR, “Mediterranean Sea Arrivals - 2015 Data - by Location, Country of Arrival, Demographic and Country of Origin,”
updated December 31, 2015,
272 Some observers have feared that after the EU-Turkey Deal, designed to effectively shut down the Eastern Mediterranean
Route, increased use of the Central Mediterranean Route will result in more casualties. As of August 27, 2016, UNHCR has
reported 3,167 migrants as dead or missing in the Mediterranean – setting the casualty rate on track to outpace the total of
2015. For up-to-date statistics, see here: UNHCR, “Refugees/Migrants Emergency Response – Mediterranean,”